Greetings from chef Laura

Bonsoir cuties! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend whether you cozied up by the fire with a loved one to escape the cold or wandered out for an adventure. I pretty much only left my house to consume copious amounts of chai lattes a la Starbucks. Yes, I was horridly lazy and it felt so completely wonderful.

In order to ease my (barely existing) guilt over being such a sloth for 2 days straight, I had to accomplish something. So I tapped into my domestic skills and took to the kitchen. I didn't quite fulfill last week's resolution of cooking three times, but I got close. I prepared two meals that I had never made before, and that is 2 more meals than I have made in months so I did feel slightly proud. I alluded to Friday's cooking venture already. After a successful afternoon of ball gown shopping with the bestie, we were quite ready to refuel with something warm and delicious. And what better meal to enjoy with a friend on a frightfully cold evening than the classic favorite: grilled cheese and tomato soup. I have never actually made homemade soup before and tomato soup is my all-time favorite meal. It seemed high time to branch out from the lackluster Campbell's version and try my hand at it myself. I had been wanting to try out a recipe that Mara had posted back in December and all I have to say is oh.my.goodness. It was absolutely the best tomato soup I've ever had and I know that had way more to do with the incredible recipe than the chef. Try it for sure if you are a fan of tomato basil soup. Saturday night I just couldn't quite fully shake the laziness and decided to go with comfort food and make un petit déjeuner to cap off my evening. Yes, you are probably wondering how it would be possible for me to have never made breakfast before and that most certainly would be a lie if I tried to pass that off. But, it is fully truth to say that I have never made French Toast before which is exactly why I chose it. Well, that and I had all the ingredients. I added amaretto coffee creamer to the egg and cinnamon mixture just to glam the meal up a bit. And at the last minute I decided scrambled eggs would be the perfect side. Voilà: a classy brinner if you will. Not exactly what you would call cooking genius but I thoroughly enjoyed both of my cooking ventures this weekend, and hopefully I won't wait months to cook again.

This week's resolution is partly to please the mother and partly to reassure myself that I still enjoy it. Sadly, I have not read a novel since graduation. Reading has always been a favorite pastime of mine, but lately I have put it on the back burner, much to my mother's chagrin. So this week I will challenge myself intellectually and set the goal of getting at least half way through a novel. I won't say all the way finished, because I know I have a super busy week, what with being in NYC at the end of the week and moving my almost-roomie down to DC! But, I will make major progress on a novel this week. That is my resolution.

Bisous!

The case of the missing date night

Bonjour babes! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, and for those lucky ducks whose weekend will be extended, I am jealous! So what was on your agendas? Fabulous soirees, wonderfully comfortable movie nights, shopping extravaganzas? Pray tell chicas! You know I love to be in the know. Ok, enough of sounding like gossip girl... I headed up to Philadelphia this weekend for my cousin's baby's baptism!! I was so stinking excited to see the most precious baby girl ever and her fashionista mommy! And it was really nice to spend some quality time in the car with my lovely mumsicle and brother as all three of us made the drive together. Matt goes back to school Monday so this was my last chance to spend time with him for awhile, as baseball will consume his life from the moment he goes back through August! Isn't that a crazy schedule?? He is going to make it big one day though and it will all be worth it. And you can all say you "knew" about him before he made it dears! This is basically my long way of apologizing for not posting on time this weekend and combining Fashion Challenge Friday and Resolution Sunday in this ginormous post. Forgive me you gorgeous little divas you? Oh thank you, thank you- I knew you would :)

So loverlies, I have a confession to make (and yes, I know I make a lot of confessions- don't judge me). I am 100% a total sucker for what I like to call "the date dress". Exhibit A: one of my very first posts. Others may call it a cocktail dress, but when I see a fabulous mini frock it just screams to me "parade me in front of a cute boy pretty, pretty please!!" Nine times out of 10 I answer the call of that most perfect date dress and welcome the newbie into my closet. But that is where the warm reception ends, darlings, because I have not actually partaken in the dating ritual in two years and counting. Alas, these poor, sad little beauties that thought they were going to be taken out for many nights on the town hang limply in a dark closet growing increasingly less optimistic of their chances of seeing daylight by the hour. I know, it truly is an unfortunate plight and I would love to be able to help them out. Trust me, I would. So seeing as the whole dating prospects still appear to be slim to none, I have decided to conquer the forgotten "date dresses" and ensure that if they can't be seen by the suit of their dreams (and the boy of mine) that at the very least they become my latest Fashion Challenge!

Dress: Betsey Johnson, Cardigan/Belt/Tights/Shoes: Kohl's, Necklace: Pearl shop in China, Earrings: Gifted from mom, Ring: Gifted from Aunt

When I saw this dress on Rue la la this summer marked down 75% off retail, everything about it was just screaming my name! The pink, the ruffles, the tulle- I just couldn't resist.

I make every effort not to buy items that I don't have any place to wear, but as I mentioned I have a major weakness for "date dresses" and passing on this one was just not an option. When it arrived I think I literally danced around the house for several minutes, and sadly, that was the last time it was worn- until this weekend.

But as soon as I decided that my latest project was to start incorporating date dresses into my daily wardrobe, I knew this was the place to start. And what better color to wear to a baptism than the color of new beginnings? I had to throw in the shoes to add a little edge to a very girly ensemble.

I am kind of a (total) wimp when it comes to the cold and Philly is even 10 degrees colder than what we have here in DC, so as much as I would have loved to have taken all my photos out here I was too much of a weenie. I love the street my cousin's live on- all cobblestone and you can't even drive on it because it is too narrow.

I have to say that I am kind of obsessed with Kohl's right now, which you probably figured out by the fact that half my outfit is from there! They truly have adorable clothes (and shoes) for unbeatable prices. I love the Simply Vera Vera Wang line (the shoes) and I am seriously considering going back and buying this cardigan in every color they offer it in since it is possibly the best cardigan I have ever owned. I know I was going a little overboard on the ruffles this day, but I was just feeling particularly into ruffles.

Well, since today is really Sunday and not Friday (like I just pretended it is) I think I should start talking about resolutions and willpower and such :) Last Sunday I kicked off my first resolution Sunday by vowing to start the year off on an organized path by engaging in a closet cleanse. I have to say, it feels great! I can see my options so much better now that the closet is divided by categories and I can actually see the floor! It is amazing how much better you can feel when you start off organized. I plan on having a lovely before/after post this week. But enough about last week, let's get on to this week! I am on my own for this week as my mom is traveling on a business trip and I plan to make the best of it by focusing on another area I wanted to work on this year. My weekly resolution will be to cook at least three times this week and they will be new meals that I have never made before! I have been ordering food way too often lately, and that does nothing to help get me prepared to live on my own, nor is it wallet friendly. So this is an all-around good idea and I am very excited to get back in the kitchen, considering I have hardly cooked since graduation. I will let you ladies know how it goes :)

Bisous! 

Resolution Sunday

'Ello poppets! Yep, tonight you are getting a pretty cray-cray version of me! Too much fun+lack of sleep= une femme de folle! I hope you all had amazing weekends! I certainly enjoyed my reunion with school friends. I admit, it is always so hard to leave them behind each time though. 

First things first, I want to congratulate Erika of Cafe Fashionista on winning my Elle for a Year giveaway! I hope you will enjoy every page turn. I'll send you an email very soon girl with details :) Thanks to all who joined in the fun and stay on the lookout for more fun giveaways to come! 

To continue with the theme of ringing in the new year and introducing changes to the blog, I wanted to kick off my first Resolution Sunday! Mara introduced the idea of setting smaller, more attainable weekly goals rather than year long goals that are often forgotten about within a few weeks. I loved the idea and decided to jump on board, but slightly late seeing as I missed the first Resolution Sunday. I decided to start off on a very practical foot, so this week's resolution is to complete a major closet cleanse! It has become so time consuming to sift through the multiple items that I never wear every morning to try and find the wearable clothes. Some are outdated, some just don't fit and others were merely bad purchasing decisions. Any way you look at it, these sad neglected items just don't have a place in my closet anymore. It is time to sort, organize and cleanse. Not only will I be able to create a much more workable closet, I will also help myself to become a much more practical shopper as I will now be able to clearly see what purchases are necessary, and which would be just impulse buys with no real justification. All in all, I think this is the perfect jumping off point for my weekly resolutions and year of change. And seeing how it goes, maybe you will get a peek into said closet to see the finished result!

So ladies, anyone else participating in Mara's little challenge? Making any smaller resolutions on your own? Any advice on a closet cleanse??

I'd love to have a pretty little closet haven like this! Something to hope for :) 

Bisous! 

Ringing in a new year

Hi darlings! I hope everyone is having an amazing start to 2011! I know I am very excited about what this year will bring. The first few days of a new year are always wonderful, because everything is new and fresh and you know the year ahead is a blank slate for you to decorate. Ok, wow I so did not mean to make that corny rhyme. I guess you just never know what will come out of these fingers!

In honor of the new year I have been thinking a lot about this little blog of mine and where I want to take it this year. It means so much to me and I definitely want to continue building on it and improving it with each post. One of the things I have observed from other bloggers that I really like is the concept of feature posts such as Cafe Fashionista's Tightwad Tuesday or Closet Fashionista's This Week in Fashion. I've decided to give feature posts a whirl starting with Fashion Challenge Friday and Resolution Sunday. Friday posts will now consist of a specific challenge I have been wanting to test out, but just hadn't quite worked up the nerve to try. I think this will really help me diversify my style and expand my fashion horizons. On Sundays I will be joining Mara in posting about my resolution of the week. She has vowed to set a manageable goal each week and blog about it each Sunday and she has invited other bloggers to join. I love this idea of setting smaller, more attainable goals to keep me on track all year, so I am accepting the invitation! I think these feature posts will really help me streamline my goals for this blog and help me to develop my blog voice further. So tune in Friday for the first fashion challenge and I can't wait to see how it goes!

New Years Eve is honestly one of my favorite nights to get dressed! That sounds so silly, but I truly do look forward to it as a kind of last crazy hurrah before the end of the holiday season. Plus, it is a night where everybody gets all glammed up, so it really challenges me to step up my fashion game in order to still stand out in the crowd. I guess I just always like ah challenge :) This year I decided to ring in the new year with one of the greatest guys I know and some of his friends. This guy has been my rock for 19 years and has put up with me even through my pain-in-the-butt teenage years. He loves me unconditionally, makes me laugh harder than anyone I know and most importantly he has always been, and will forever be, my best friend. Who is this fantastic, wonderful man you ask? Well, for those of you who read my blog regularly you might have guessed already that I am speaking about my one and only little brother (not so little anymore)! Yes, I had an amazingly fun evening hanging out with the brother and some of his friends, who over time have become some of my closest friends as well. And they even nicely indulged me in my idea of turning the party into more of a soiree if you will, which included dressing the part of the fancy sounding name! How I convinced the boys that they really did want to don a dress shirt and tie for NYE I will never know! But we all showed up looking quite classy if I do say so and we finished out the year with a bang! I was so glad that we did decide to dress up so that I could debut the gorgeous sapphire cocktail dress and silver sparkle shoes that my amazing mother had given to me for Christmas! My mom said when she was younger, her mother would buy her a NYE dress as a Christmas present every year and she wanted to carry on that tradition now with me. I told her I was a huge fan of that tradition, especially since my mom knows my taste in style perfectly! I loved wearing a brightly colored dress on NYE and I was still able to incorporate my love of sparkle with the shoes! I also got to debut my new haircut that I mentioned last week and I had been a little unsure about it, but everyone was so sweet and complimentary that I felt much better!

The bro and I keeping it classy on NYE!

My brother's best friend since they were 4 (aka my other brother)

The boys looking fly!

These were my favorite outfits of the night! I apologize for cutting off their shoes, but they looked so amazing! I mean who doesn't love some fierce stripes and a total sequin dress for NYE?!

Ok so confession time: I was having such a good time on NYE that I didn't take proper outfit photos, so I had to recreate the look. Except... I don't currently have the shoes because I am staying at my dad's house this week! So if you wouldn't mind ignoring that I am barefoot and instead imagining that these babies are bedazzling my feet, I'd be so grateful! Thanks :) Oh and as I promised, a big THANKS to my sweet dad for playing photographer tonight. You're the best!!

Both the dress and shoes were Christmas gifts from my mom. The shoes literally arrived the morning of NYE and I was SO excited to wear them! For the party, I donned my favorite bow ring, a cocktail flower ring with a fake pearl as the center and a pair of dangly silver earrings. I didn't add a necklace, as the neckline was statement enough. My fingernails were painted a shimmery Orly silver polish and my toes were a perfect OPI blue to match the dress (can't remember either polish name).

This photo kind of makes me look like I have a huge badonk-a-donk, but in real life it was one of the more form flattering dresses I have ever worn!

I was so shocked to see Dad had hung lights on the porch of his apartment, since he never put them on the outside of our house. But they gave it a nice homey feel, which I like. We had to take these photos quickly before I froze my tooshie off!

I love all the folds and ruffles of this dress. Gives it character!

I am still getting used to styling these bangs, so bear with me :)

Dad started getting into the whole photography game and suggested a second location. Secretly, I think he just wanted to show off his newly decorated pad! But it is so nice, that I don't blame him!

I never did a great photo of the round embellished neckline, but I adore the extra oomph the adornments gave to the dress!

Loves, I am so sorry for being quite this late with a NYE post. I hope you subscribe to the better late than never mentality! Don't forget to enter my Elle for a Year Giveaway before midnight on Saturday and tune in Friday for the first installment of Fashion Challenge Friday. 

Bisous!